there have been differences of opinion, and that's the democratic way. those differences have been settled by a majority vote. now it is time to get together and beat the common enemy. and that is up to you. we'll be working together for victory in a great cause. victory has become a habit of our party.q

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captions performed by national captioning institute] the national income has

increased in 1933 to $203 billion in 1947. the greatest in all the history of the world. these benefits have been spread to all the people because it is the business of the democratic party to see that some people get a fair share these days. this last congress proved just the opposite for the republicans. we converted the greatest and best of the republicans to our viewpoint on that subject. [cheers and applause] the united states has to accept

its full responsibility for leadership in american affairs. we are the backers and the people that organized and started the united nations. first started under that great democratic party. the league was sabotaged by the republicans in 1920 and we must see that the united nations continues a strong and growing body so we can have everlasting peace in the world. we removed the trade barriers in the world, which is the best message we can have for peace. we have started a program which means that u.s., china, and the far east. we have instituted programs, and

i will tell you that all these things were done in a cooperative, bipartisan manner. the foreign relations committees in the senate and the house were taken in the full house, and don't let anyone tell you anything else. as i have said time and time again, foreign policy should be the policy of the whole nation and not a policy of one party or the other. partisanship should start at the edge, and i continue to preach that through this whole campaign.

i'd like to say a word or two now about what i think the republican philosophy is. i speak from experience. the situation in 1932 was due to the policy of the republican party control of the government of the united states. the republican party, as i said a while ago, favored the privileged few and not the common, everyday man. ever since its inception, that party has been under the control of special privileged, and they concretely proved it in the 08's congress. they proved it by the things they did to the people and not for them. they proved it by the things they failed to do. let's look at some of them, just

a few. time and time again, i recommended the expansion of price control before it expired on june 30, 1946. i asked for an extension in september 1945, in november 1945, in a message on the state of the union in 1946. price control legislation did not come to my desk until june 30, 1944, on the day it was supposed to expire. it was such a rotten bill i could not sign it. then they sent me another one, and i had to sign it, because they quit and went home. [applause] they have gone all the way off the charts.

it ad just themselves at the expense of the consumer and for the benefit of the people that hold the goods. i call a special session of congress november 19 -- november 17, 1947. and i set out a 10-point program for the welfare and benefit of this country, among other things, stand by price control. i got nothing. congress has still done nothing. way back 4 -- four 1/2 years ago, when i was in the senate, we passed the housing bill in the senate known as the wagner -eleanor-taft bill. it was a bill to clear the sums

in the big cities and low-rent housing. that bill, as i said, passed the senate four years ago. it died in the house. the 80's congress passed the eleanor-wagner bill. the name slightly changed. it was allowed to die in the house of representatives. the banking and currency committee sat on that bill. it was finally forced out of the committee, and then the rules committee took charge. in that convention that -- here three weeks ago, they couldn't get that housing bill passed.

we needed moderate legislation to promote labor harmony. congress instead passed that so-called taft-tartley act, which has disrutchted labor management relations and will cause strife for years to come if it is not repealed in the democratic platform. [applause] the republican platform of 1944 said if they were in power they would build up a strong labor department. you know what they have done to the labor department? they have simply torn it up. there is only one bureau left that's functioning, and they cut the appropriations on that, so it can't hardly function. i recommended an increase in the minimum wage.

what did they do? nothing, absolutely nothing. i suggested that the schools in this country are crowded, teachers are under-paid. that there is a shortage of teachers. i asked congress to provide $300 million to meet the present educational crisis. the congress did nothing about it. time and again, i recommended improvements in social security laws, including extending protection to those not now covered, increased the amount of the benefits, produced eligibility age of women from 65 to 60 years. congress studied the matter for two years but could not find time to extend increased benefits, but it did find time to take social security benefits

away from 750,000 people. they passed that over my veto. [cheers and applause] >> i repeatedly asked the congress to pass a health program. the nation suffers from lack of medical care. that situation can be limited any time the congress wants to act upon it. some of the members of my party disagree with me, but they do it openly. the republicans profess to be for these matters. they had enough men to do that. there were enough people in that congress that could have voted.

by the way, when tax relief can be given, it should go to those who need it most, not to those who need it least. they passed my bill on the third try. [cheers and applause] the first one of these tax bills looked so bad, but it still helped the rich and stuck the knife into the back of the poor.

they adopted a platform, and that platform had a lot of promises. and statements of what the republican party is for and what they would do if they were in power. they promised to do in that platform a lot of things i would imagine them to do and that they refused to do when they had the power. [cheers and applause] the republican platform cries about high prices. i have been trying to get them to do something about high prices ever since they met the first time. the first one is cynical.

i've been trying to get them to pass that housing bill ever since they met the first time, and it is still resting in the rules committee, that bill is. [applause] i've been trying to get congress to do something about it ever since they came there, and that bill is in the house of representatives. look at that. increasing social security benefits. they took 10,000 people off the social security roll. i wonder if they think they can fool the people of the united states with such poppycock as

that. [cheers and applause] i discussed these affairs of the republican 80th congress and every one of them is important. to a major concern. the failure to do anything about high prices, and the failure to do anything about housing. my idea as president requires that i use every means within my powers to get the laws on matters of urgency. i am therefore calling this session back into session on the 6th of july! [cheers and applause]

on the 26th day of july, which out in missouri, we call thursday, i'm going to call that congress back and i'm going to ask them to pass laws solving rising prices and to meet the housing crisis, which they say they are for in their platform. [cheers and applause]

at the same time, i will ask them to follow up on other measures, such as education, which they say they are for. a national health program. civil rights legislation. which they say they are for. an increase in the minimum wage, which i doubt very much they are for. an extension of social security coverage and increased benefits, which they say they are for. funds for projects needed in our programs provides vidse public power and chief electricity. and this tries to sabotage the power that the united states has pursued for 14 years. that power lobby is with the

real estate lobby which is sitting on the housing bill. i shall ask for the laws for deceased persons. [cheers and applause] now, my friends, if there is any reality behind that republican platform, we ought to get some action out of the 80th congress. they can do this job in 15 days if they want to do it. they will still have time to go out and -- [cheers and applause] they are going to try to dodge their responsibility. they are going to drag all the red herings they can across this

campaign. i'm here to say senator barkley and i are not going to let them get away with it. [cheers and applause] the american people will not decide by listening to mere words or by reading a mere platform. they will decide on the record. the record as it has been written, and in the record is the stark truth of the battle lines of 1948 and they are the same as they were back in 1932 when the nation lay helpless as a result of republican misrule and inaction. in 1932 we were attacking the citidel of special privilege and deed. we were attempting to drive the money changers from the temple.

today in 1948 we are now the defenders of democracy and of equal opportunity. the haven of the ordinary people of this land and not the favored classes or the powerful few. the battle cry is just the same now as it was in 1932, and i paraphrase franklin d. roosevelt as he accepted his nomination in chicago. this is more than a political call to arms. give me your help. not to win votes alone, but to win this new crusade and keep america secure and safe for its own people. [cheers and applause] now, my friends, with the help of god and my own push which you

can put behind this campaign, we can save this country from a continuation of the 80's woth congress and from misrule from now on. i must have your help. you must get in and push and win this election. the country can't afford another republican congress. [cheers and applause] >> this weekend, preparations are underway at the time-warner building in north carolina where on tuesday democrats will begin their three-day national convention. on the first day delegates will hear from first lady michelle obama. on the second day, president bill clinton. the third day speeches by vice president biden and president obama. you can watch it all here on c-span.

now the 1952 democratic convention and a speech from nominee and i will notice -- illinois nominee adlai stevenson. he was nominated after three ballots and gave this 20-minute acceptance speech. [cheers and applause] >> mr. president, ladies and gentlemen of the convention, my

fellow citizens, i accept your nomination and your program. [cheers and applause] i have -- prefer to hear those words uttered by a stronger, better, wiser man than myself. but after listening to the president's speech, i even feel better about myself. [cheers and applause] none of you my friends can really appreciate what is in my heart. i can only hope that you will understand my words. they will be view. i have not sought the honor you have done me. i would not seek it because i

aspire to another office. which was the full measure of my ambition. and one does not treat the highest office within the gift of the people of illinois as an alternative or as a consolation prize. the responsibilities of that office stagger the imagination. its potential for good or evil smothers infiltration and converts sanity to prayer. i have asked the merciful father to lift this cup from me. but from such dread responsibility, one does not shrink in fear, in self-interest

or in false humility. so if this cup may not pass from me, i drink it, thy will be done. [cheers and applause] my heart has been troubled that i could not seek it in good conscience, that i would not seek it in honest self-appraisal is not to say that i value it the less. rather it is that i revere the office of the presidency of the united states. [cheers and applause] i will fight to win that office with all my heart and my soul.

[cheers and applause] with your help, i have no doubt that we will win. you have summoned me to the highest mission within the gifts of any people. i could not be more proud. better men than i were at hand for this mighty task, and i owe it to you and to them every resource of mind and of strength that i possess to make your deed 20d -- today a good one for our country and for our party. i accept your selection for

candidate for vice president. it will strengthen me. in the work that lies ahead for all of us. i know you join me in gratitude and in respect for the brave democrats and the leaders of our generation whose names you have considered here in this convention. whose vigor whose devotion to the republic we love so well has won the respect of countless americans and have enriched our party. [applause] your nomination has not enlarged my capacity. i have been deeply moved by their expressions of good will and of support. and i cannot, my friends, resist

the urge to take the one opportunity that has been afforded me to pay my humble respects to a very great and good american. whom i am proud to call my kinsman, alvin barkley of kentucky. [cheers and applause] let me say i have been heartened by this convention. you have argued and disagreed, because as democrats, you care and you care deeply. you have dreed and argued without -- disagreed and argued without calling each other liars and thieves. without dispoiling our best traditions in any naked struggle